N.C. 105 woes

top town-DOT meeting
By Frank Ruggiero
ruggiero@wataugademocrat.com

All roads lead to Rome, but a few big ones lead to Boone.

The Boone Town Council hosted a special meeting Friday, May 2, to discuss these roads with representatives from the N.C. Department of Transportation (DOT).

Council members came prepared with a roadmap of discussion points, as did N.C. Rep. Cullie Tarleton, Larry Turnbow representing N.C. Sen. Steve Goss, and representatives of the High Country Council of Government, Boone Area Chamber of Commerce, Appalachian State University and the business community.

“I think we all realize both the town and DOT have a number of what I’ll call issues of mutual interest,” mayor pro tem Lynne Mason said, “and that increasingly it becomes more important that we find a way to work together … as traffic issues become more complex with this community, as we wrestle with different transportation needs.”

At the top of the list was N.C. 105, with the town asking about the addition of left-turn lanes at all intersections, a traffic light at the Poplar Hill Drive intersection, and repaving and restriping.

Mike Pettyjohn, DOT division engineer for Division 11, said engineers have studied the corridor and compiled potential solutions. They met with Mayor Loretta Clawson and Watauga County commissioners chairman Jim Deal the previous week to present the results, asking them to bring the information back to their respective boards for consideration.

“We get a lot of requests for turn lanes, signals, a lot of different things along that stretch of road,” Pettyjohn said.

Regarding repaving and restriping, Pettyjohn said the DOT is planning to start this summer, targeting the area from Wilson Drive to the N.C. 105 Bypass. The outside lanes will be milled and filled back with microsurfacing on top, which Pettyjohn said would extend the life of the pavement.

The surfacing has a lifetime between five and seven years, depending on the road’s traffic volume. Lesser used roads can get 10 to 12 years from such surfacing, but a heavily-used highway like 105 is closer to the five-year average.

Concerning stoplights at Poplar Grove and Poplar Hill, Pettyjohn explained that plans are contingent upon an Appalachian State University road project that would create a connector from campus to Homespun Hills.

If such requested improvements are done on a one-by-one basis, Pettyjohn said, “It’s really going to degrade 105 as a transportation facility.”

Instead, he said the DOT must focus on the roadway as a whole for the safety and mobility of those who use it, and, “Our main focus that we presented … is really closer to the 105 Bypass, because there are more opportunities there for improvement.”

If traffic signals were unfeasible, council member Liz Aycock asked if the DOT would consider adding turn lanes to the Poplar Hill area.

Turn lanes, Pettyjohn explained, will be placed at “logical points” on 105, so there is less conflicting vehicle movement. “Every time you have cross traffic, you’re just creating the possibility for less safe traffic,” he said, instead suggesting the placement of turn lanes at strategic points with traffic control.

In fact, he said the DOT is considering eliminating that particular left turn from 105 to Poplar Hill, as the area has “some constraints that are really prohibitive.”

Mason noted that, unfortunately, more accidents occur in that particular area, where there are no left turn lanes. “I think we’ve all had harrowing experiences on that road,” she said.

Aycock expressed concern with the possible elimination of left-turn access, saying there are large neighborhoods in that area with hundreds of houses. “Do you consider ingress and egress of those neighborhoods at all?” she asked.

Pettyjohn said the DOT does just that and found that when turns are limited, mobility is not as limited as it might seem at first. “It will actually be easier and safer for them to get out,” he said, adding that engineers plan to strategically place areas where drivers can execute U-turns to access those roads, “where they’re not trying to cross in front of a lot of traffic.”

Aycock said in that particular area, residents could have to drive almost a mile out of the way to exit the neighborhood.

“What we would want on that is what places you can turn, make lefts and cross,” Pettyjohn said. “We look at safety, as well as mobility. Obviously, we want everybody to be safe, but we know people don’t want to be sitting in traffic a long time either. It’s a balance – be safe and keep traffic moving, and the more you can keep traffic moving, the safer it is.”

Council member Stephen Phillips raised the question of pedestrian crossings and whether or not they might be practical on N.C. 105 and U.S. 321. Aycock asked if a dedicated crosswalk would be possible at the 105/321 four-way intersection.

Division traffic engineer Dean Ledbetter said pedestrian signals and crosswalks will be installed, though there will still be vehicular movement for turning, as a dedicated crosswalk would not be feasible.

“In our division, that’s one of the busiest intersections we’ve got,” Pettyjohn said, noting that a crosswalk would be available at each corner.

Mason referenced the U.S. 421 widening project, saying the town would like to see pedestrian-friendly devices incorporated into the design. “It’s hard to encourage people to consider walking if they can’t cross the street safely,” she said.

Pettyjohn said most roads where this is an issue are major corridors, and he suggested the town identify the most troublesome roadways in that respect. “You don’t want to go in and just put one somewhere if it doesn’t correct something,” he said.

Mason said one particularly dangerous area is U.S. 421 by New Market Centre, where visitors staying at the hotels across the way walk across the highway to the shopping center, as well as the intersection of U.S. 421 and N.C. 105 Extension, where many students cross to walk to Appalachian State University.

She asked if the DOT could offer a short-term remedy, but Pettyjohn said the DOT is planning to award the project bid next April and that any additional designs or redesigns would be too late. “I don’t know if we could get in temporary measures quick enough that would benefit the town,” he said.

Moving back to U.S. 321/Blowing Rock Road, Mason asked if crosswalks could be installed along that roadway, and Ledbetter said the reality of Blowing Rock Road is that most people crossing the street don’t do so at centralized locations.

“They happen when people are working at one location to cross the street to a restaurant,” he said. “People won’t walk to a signalized intersection to cross the road there.”

He said the DOT could consider non-signalized crossings across Blowing Rock Road, but a crosswalk gives right of way to pedestrians, “and on a five-lane roadway, that’s just not a safe thing to do …The potential to do harm greatly outweighs the potential to increase safety for the pedestrian.”

“I can see the argument against putting a crosswalk across a five-lane boulevard, but the reality is you’ve got people doing it anyway,” Tarleton said. “Maybe there needs to be some effort made to, at least, direct them to a safe crossing area, which would be a signalized intersection where there is a dedicated crosswalk.”

Pettyjohn agreed and suggested the town identify potential intersections for signalization and send the findings to DOT for review.